Serum vaccine plan won’t be hit: Centre

Initial assessments after a volunteer’s illness suggested the trial of the Oxford-astrazeneca vaccine did not need to be halted and the incident will not affect the time lines for the emergency approval process in the country, top officials said on Tuesday — the first reaction from the government on a controversy that had appeared to dampen hopes for an early coronavirus inoculation.

The remarks were made by Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Indian Council of Medical Research head Dr Balram

NEW DELHI:

Bhargava at a government briefing on Covid-19.

The officials also indicated India may not need to vaccinate all of India’s population to contain the spread of the disease.

“I just want to make this clear that the government has never spoken about vaccinating the entire country. It’s important that we discuss such scientific issues, based on factual information only,” secretary Bhushan said while responding to a question on when a vaccine can be given to everyone in the country.

Explaining the remark, Bhargava, the ICMR director general, said vaccinating the entire population may not be required if “critical mass of people” is vaccinated and the chain of virus transmission is broken.

The Oxford-astrazeneca candidate is largely believed to be the first that could be cleared for use, with an emergency approval expected in the next couple of months.

OFFICIALS ALSO INDICATED INDIA MAY NOT NEED TO VACCINATE ALL OF ITS POPULATION TO CONTAIN THE VIRAL DISEASE